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Threat Assessment of Malicious Code and External Attacks Threat Assessment of Malicious Code and External Attacks Lawrence E. Bassham W. Timothy Polk U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Technology Administration National Institute of Standards and Technology Computer Systems Laboratory Computer Security Division Gaithersburg, MD 20899 QC 100 . U56 NIST 4939 1992 Of NISTIR 4939 C»2-> Threat Assessment of Malicious Code and External Attacks Lawrence E. Bassham W. Timothy Polk U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Technology Administration National Institute of Standards and Technology Computer Systems Laboratory Computer Security Division Gaithersburg, MD 20899 October 1992 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Barbara Hackman Franklin, Secretary TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION Robert M. White, Under Secretary for Technology NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY John W. Lyons, Director Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Malicious Code 3 2.1 Viruses 3 2.1.1 History of Viruses 4 2.1.2 Current Protection Against Viruses 6 2.2 Worms 7 2.2.1 History of Worms 7 2.2.2 Current Protection Against Worms 9 2.3 Trends for the Future 10 3 Human Threats 11 3.1 Insider Attacks 11 3.2 Hackers 11 3.3 Phone Phreaks 13 3.4 Trends for the Future 13 3.4.1 Configuration Errors and Passwords 13 3.4.2 Internal Threats 14 3.4.3 Connectivity 14 3.4.4 Information Dissemination 15 4 Summary 17 References 19 iii 1 1 Introduction As a participant in the U.S. Army Computer Vulnerability/Survivability Study Team, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has been tasked with providing an assess- ment of the threats associated with commercial hardware and software. This document is the second and final deliverable under the Military Interdepartmental Purchase Request num- ber: W43P6Q-92-EW138. This report provides an assessment of the threats associated with malicious code and external attacks on systems using commercially available hardware and software. The history of the threat is provided and current protection methods described. A projection of the future threats for both malicious code and human threats is also given. Today, computer systems are under attack from a multitude of sources. These range from malicious code, such as viruses and worms, to human threats, such as hackers and phone “phreaks.” These attacks target different characteristics of a system. This leads to the possibility that a particular system is more susceptible to certain kinds of attacks. Malicious code, such as viruses and worms, attack a system in one of two ways, either internally or externally. Traditionally, the virus has been an internal threat, while the worm, to a large extent, has been a threat from an external source. Human threats are perpetrated by individuals or groups of individuals that attempt to penetrate systems through computer networks, public switched telephone networks or other sources. These attacks generally target known security vulnerabilities of systems. Many of these vulnerabilities are simply due to configuration errors. Certain commercial products are identified in this paper in order to adequately specify procedures being described. In no case does such identification imply recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, nor does it imply that the material identified is necessarily the best for the purpose. — 3 2 Malicious Code Viruses and worms are related classes of malicious code; as a result they are often confused. Both share the primary objective of replication. However, they are distinctly different with respect to the techniques they use and their host system requirements. This distinction is due to the disjoint sets of host systems they attack. Viruses have been almost exclusively restricted to personal computers, while worms have attacked only multi-user systems. A careful examination of the histories of viruses and worms can highlight the differences and similarities between these classes of malicious code. The characteristics shown by these histories can be used to explain the differences between the environments in which they are found. Viruses and worms have very different functional requirements; currently no class of systems simultaneously meets the needs of both. A review of the development of personal computers and multi-tasking workstations will show that the gap in functionality between these classes of systems is narrowing rapidly. In the future, a single system may meet all of the requirements necessary to support both worms and viruses. This implies that worms and viruses may begin to appear in new classes of systems. A knowledge of the histories of viruses and worms may make it possible to predict how malicious code will cause problems in the future. Basic Definitions To provide a basis for further discussion, the following definitions will be used throughout the report. • Trojan Horse - a program which performs a useful function, but also performs an unexpected action as well. • Virus - a code segment which replicates by attaching copies to existing executables. • Worm - a program which replicates itself and causes execution of the new copy. • Network Worm - a worm which copies itself to another system by using common net- work facilities, and causes execution of the copy on that system. 2.1 Viruses The following are necessary characteristics of a virus: • replication • requires a host program as a carrier 4 2 MALICIOUS CODE • activated by external action • replication limited to (virtual) system In essence, a computer program which has been infected by a virus has been converted into a trojan horse. The program is expected to perform a useful function, but has the unintended side effect of viral code execution. In addition to performing the unintended task, the virus also performs the function of replication. Upon execution, the virus attempts to replicate and “attach” itself to another program. It is the unexpected and generally uncontrollable repliction that makes viruses so dangerous. Viruses are currently designed to attack single platforms. A platform is defined as the combination of hardware and the most prevalent operating system for that hardware. As an example, a virus can be referred to as an IBM-PC virus, referring to the hardware, or a DOS virus, referring to the operating system. “Clones” of systems are also included with the original platform. 2.1.1 History of Viruses The term “computer virus” was formally defined by Fred Cohen in 1983, while he performed academic experiments on a Digital Equipment Corporation VAX system. Viruses are clas- sified as being one of two types: research or “in the wild.” A research virus is one that has been written for research or study purposes and has received almost no distribution to the public. On the other hand, viruses which have been seen with any regularity are termed “in the wild.” The first computer viruses were developed in the early 1980s. The first viruses found in the wild were Apple II viruses, such as Elk Cloner, which was reported in 1981 [Den90]. Viruses have now been found on the following platforms: • Apple II • IBM PC • Macintosh • Atari • Amiga Note that all viruses found in the wild target personal computers. As of today, the over- whelming number of virus strains are IBM PC viruses. However, as of August 1989, the number of PC, Atari ST, Amiga, and Macintosh viruses were almost identical (21, 22, 18, and 12 respectively [Den90]). Academic studies have shown that viruses are possible for multi-tasking systems, but they have not yet appeared. This point will be discussed later. Viruses have “evolved” over the years due to efforts by their authors to make the code more difficult to detect, disassemble, and eradicate. This evolution has been especially apparent 2. 1 Viruses 5 in the IBM PC viruses; since there are more distinct viruses known for the DOS operating system than any other. The first IBM-PC virus appeared in 1986 [Den90]; this was the Brain virus. Brain was a boot sector virus and remained resident. In Brain was followed by Alameda Yale 1987, ( ), Cascade Jerusalem Lehigh and Miami ( South African Friday the 13th). These viruses , , , expanded the target executables to include COM and EXE files. Cascade was encrypted to deter disassembly and detection. Variable encryption appeared in 1989 with the 1260 virus. Stealth viruses, which employ various techniques to avoid detection, also first appeared in such as Zero Bug Dark Avenger and Frodo 096 or In self-modifying 1989, , fK). 1990, viruses, such as Whale were introduced. The year 1991 brought the GP1 virus, which is “network- sensitive” and attempts to steal Novell NetWare passwords. Since their inception, viruses have become increasingly complex. Examples from the IBM-PC family of viruses indicate that the most commonly detected viruses vary according to continent, but Stoned Brain Cascade and members of the Jerusalem , , , family, have spread widely and continue to appear. This implies that highly survivable viruses tend to be benign, replicate many times before activation, or are somewhat innovative, uti- lizing some technique never used before in a virus. Personal computer viruses exploit the lack of effective access controls in these systems. The viruses modify files and even the operating system itself. These are “legal” actions within the context of the operating system. While more stringent controls are in place on multi-tasking, multi-user operating systems, configuration errors, and security holes (security bugs) make viruses on these systems more than theoretically possible. This leads to the following initial conclusions: • Viruses exploit weaknesses in operating system controls and human patterns of system use/misuse. • Destructive viruses are more likely to be eradicated. • An innovative virus may have a larger initial window to propagate before it is discovered and the “average” anti- viral product is modified to detect or eradicate it. It has been suggested that viruses for multi-user systems are too difficult to write. However, Fred Cohen required only “8 hours of expert work” [Hof90] to build a virus that could penetrate a UNIX 1 system.
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